


tell me

by leviadrache



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-24 19:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4931704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leviadrache/pseuds/leviadrache
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mamoru's relationship with Ibuki has ups and downs. Regardless of everything, it's almost impossible to get a straight answer out of that idiot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tell me

**Author's Note:**

> the more accurate summary for this fic is "ibuki kouji is a piece of shit with no shame and no social skills while mamoru is, well, mamoru"

As soon as Mamoru feels close enough to Ibuki to consider them  _friends_ , he asks the question that has been burning under his tongue for so long.

"Say, Ibuki-kun," he starts carefully, very carefully, then pauses for a moment. Is it really a good idea to just blurt out with the question? He doesn't want to lose what he has built up with Ibuki over the last few months. But then, if there's one thing he learned during this time, it's that you need to get straight to the point when you want Ibuki to, well, you know. Act like he acknowledges your existence.

"Say, is that a piece of  _metal_  on your shirt?"

Ibuki looks at him,  _a sign to show he heard me_ , Mamoru translates. But when Ibuki speaks up, he simply says, "it's your turn," and takes a sip of his coffee. "Hurry up, my shift starts in hour."

Mamoru sighs. On one hand he's glad Ibuki doesn't seem upset or bothered by the question. Though he also wishes Ibuki would stop ignoring any personal questions about himself or his ominous past.

It's not  _always_  bad to let others know about yourself. Neither is it bad when you want to  _know_  things about your friends. Mamoru hopes he can make Ibuki realize this at some point.

Of course, he knows it would take some time for Ibuki to open up to him. He's more than grateful that Ibuki has opened up to him enough for them to meet casually like this. Really, he has no clue  _why_  Ibuki bothers to spend so much time with him. But if this isn't the best way to figure out that Ibuki does care about him, then nothing is.

(And maybe it's pretty desperate how any ever so slight display of emotion – not affection, just the simple showing of affection when Mamoru is around to see – makes his hear beat faster than it should.)

So he decides to drop the matter – for now at least.

"Stand and draw!"

* * *

 

Ibuki comes to watch Jaime's fight. Mamoru considers it as a step forward. From spending all his time in his office, plotting whatever the people at UnaSan were plotting, Ibuki for once bothered to come here – without any invitation from Mamoru.

Maybe Ibuki knows Jaime from his past. Yeah, right, that past Ibuki never mentions and probably refuses to even think about. Mamoru still has no idea what happened back then. All he knows is Ibuki made a lot of mistakes, but he had some friends helping him, so in the end, everything went well.

Frankly, he doesn't care much about Ibuki's past. Mamoru is the type who tries not to live in the past and focuses on the present instead.

But he is also a curious person. Some days later, he meets Ibuki again at a meeting, and promptly decides to track him down as soon as he left the office where everyone assembled. But Ibuki notices his chaser much to easily for Mamoru's liking.

"What do you want?"

Mamoru smiles his brightest smile. "I was hoping to spend some time with you. We haven't really seen each other much lately."

A cold gaze is all he gets as response, before Ibuki turns around to leave. His behaviour strikes Mamoru odd, back to how it used to be in the beginning. It worries Mamoru.

"Hey, hey, wait for me." Mamoru needs to jog to keep up with Ibuki's fast pace. Though Ibuki doesn't run, he is very quick just walking.

Damn those long legs.

He seems very keen on getting away without making it look like he's running away, but Mamoru goes after him anyway. He knows Ibuki doesn't actually hate him. He cares about Mamoru in that dumb, messed up way Ibuki Kouji cares about things. Because if he didn't care, he would tell Mamoru to get lost or something like that. But he doesn't, and instead just keeps on walking in silence. Which just proves Mamoru's point.

Once they're outside of the building, on the parking lot of the Vanguard Association 's HQ, Ibuki stops, waiting for Mamoru. "What do you want?" he asks again.

"I was hoping to spend some time with you," Mamoru repeats. To put more emphasis on his words, he takes several steps forward until he stands right in front of Ibuki. Close enough to show he's serious about what he said, but careful to not invade Ibuki's personal space too much.

Ibuki doesn't move and sticks to glaring at Mamoru. Despite his mature attitude, Ibuki seems really keen to turn this into a staring contest. Of course, Mamoru won't back away from this challenge. Nor does he plan to lose easily.

He keeps his gaze focused on the sharp red eyes that look even prettier up close. In the end, Ibuki speaks up first.

"Right now I have more important business to attend to."

Without giving Mamoru a chance to respond, he turns around and leaves. This time, Mamoru simply watches him go, his mind spinning. He can't remember the last time he got dumped _this_ harshly.

* * *

 

"So you're really leaving to find Myoujin Ryuzu?" Mamoru asks after the fight with Chrono. "I was hoping you'd stayed a little longer with us."

They're still in front the building where the fight took place. The others were still inside, where the Depend Card has been awakened.

"I have to keep going," Ibuki says, closing his eyes to lean against the wall of the building. Mamoru rolls his eyes, just because he knows Ibuki can't see it anyway. He steps a little closer to the other, who, as expected, doesn't react at all.

"You know, for someone who always claims all of someone's personality become visible to him during a fight, you're really bad at reading others."

Ibuki's eyes snap open. He takes look at Mamoru, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

_You're an idiot._

"I'm saying he doesn't want to you leave. Neither do Kamui-kun or any of the others. They've forgiven you already."

"It doesn't matter. I've already decided to leave." Ibuki almost huffs.

"You don't have to leave," Mamoru says. It's really no good to ask him to stay just like that, but Mamoru still has a point to get across here. If Ibuki understands and still wants to leave, that's fine. Mamoru just doesn't want him to leave like this again, with so much unsaid between them. "I know you're not good at recognizing people's emotion or responding to them, but that's okay. I know how you are."

"Mamoru-"

"I've always quite liked you a lot," he continues with a smile. Ibuki's eyes widen at that, and he quickly lets his gaze drop to the floor. Long white hair hides most of his face and Mamoru can't help it but wonder if it's an attempt to hide his face. Would Ibuki Kouji do something like this, he wonders. It'd be almost cute, so definitely not something Ibuki would do. A moment passes and he decides to be completely honest, if Ibuki can't start with that.

"Your laugh sounds really nice."

To his surprise, Ibuki mutters, "Anjou Mamoru. You're quite okay, too."

They're silent for a while, because Mamoru needs a time to figure out the exact meaning of Ibuki's words. He seriously hasn't expected that Ibuki would get what he meant, even less expected to receive this kind of reply.

After what could be some minutes or a few seconds, Ibuki lifts his head to look at Mamoru's face. There was (unfortunately, in Mamoru's opinion) no blush on his face, but his eyes are wide open and it looks like he has been biting his bottom lip.

Mamoru smiles.

"Now, if you don't mind, let's go somewhere together, shall we? To that restaurant from last time, maybe? Or do you wanna see my flat? I just remembered that after all this time, I've never properly invited you over."

Ibuki doesn't flinch or try to pull away when Mamoru places his hand on Ibuki's shoulder and guides him to his car. Quite the opposite. It feels like his ever so tense shoulders relax for once under Mamoru's hand.

Taking Ibuki to his flat turns out to be the right decision. Ibuki talks, probably more than he has in the almost two years they have known each other. He tells Mamoru about his past, the reason why he knows Kamui and why he plays a Messiah deck. Mamoru always loves to find why a fighter chose their clan and Ibuki's story is nothing if not interesting to listen to. Although he tells it very matter-of-factly, never bothering to explain his thoughts on what happened or how he felt about it. Mamoru tries to figure that out between the lines, while he listens as Ibuki continues to tell the story in his stubborn " _and then this, and then that happened_ "- way.

By the time Ibuki finished his story, it's pretty late. "Wanna stay over for the night?" Mamoru asks. "I could of course drive you home if you prefer that. You live quite far from here, aren't you?"

Ibuki looks down at the table in front of them. Something in his oh so dense expression falters, before he shrugs. "I don't mind staying here."

"Then it's settled!" Mamoru says, way too cheerful about the fact Ibuki agreed to something like this. But then he pauses. "Oh, but please tell me," he points at the metal plate that is, as always, around Ibuki's neck. "Do you keep that on when you sleep?"

**Author's Note:**

> Ibuki just smirks in response, much to Mamoru's surprise. "Why tell you something you can find out on yourself."
> 
> He feels like the chances that the piece of metal is some sort of collar suddenly incresed tenfold, but he's tired and decides to drop the matter for now.


End file.
